Knitting apparatus



Aug. 12, 1941. G ANT 2,252,596

KNITTING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1938 FIG.

29 .17 V as a b as j 40 39 yea S INVENTOR R.GRANT A TTORNEY Patented AI 12, 1941' UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE KNITTING APPARATUS Robert Grant, Baltimore, Md., asslgnor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York; N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 28', 1938, Serial No. 210,679

3 Claims.

This invention relates to knitting apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for actuating knitting needles. y

In the manufacture of certain types of knitted coverings, for instance, a knitted covering for an electrical conductor, it has been found desirable to actuate the knitting needles by means of levers operating on a cam. However, the use of levers operating directly on a cam causes wear of the lever arms due to the reciprocating and lateral motion between the lever arms and the cam.

the cam, and adjustable together with the needies in respect to the cam. I

Other objects and features of the invention will appear from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which the same reference numerals are applied to identical parts in the several figures and in which,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly in section of a I I ported by means not shown. Journaled in the frame is a hollow shaft 2| rotated by gears 22 and 23, which are driven by means not shown. Within the upper end of shaft 2| is secured a hollow extension or needle bed 25,

Formed i n the outer surface of the needle bed line between them an, endless cam slot 4|.

justably secured. The member 33 has a projection 233 extending into one of slots 28 to key the member 33 against rotation on needle cylinder 25, but enabling member 33 to be adjusted vertically on the cylinder.

Under flange I33 and near its outer periphery are mounted a plurality of studs 31. On the lower end of each stud is pivoted a bell crank lever 38, whose horizontal radially inwardly extending arm enters, at the tip thereof, the correspond ing slot28 and by means of ,a notch in the tip of the lever arm engages a corresponding needle. The other arm extends downwardly toward the base of the machine.

The lower end of the downwardly extending arm is formed into a cylindrical extension 2.

Below the flange I33 and stationarily s cured on top of frame 20 is a pair of complementary cam members 33 and whose opposed edges de- The cross-section of this cam slot forms two opposing arcs of a circle.

, Held in the cam groove so that they may roll freely but cannot escape are a plurality of ball bearings 3. Each hearing has a circular bore 4 drilled through its center. The cylindrical extension 2 on the end of each downwardly extending arm of the bell crank lever 38 extends into the bore 4 of one of the ball bearings 3. The

bearing 3 rotates freely around the extension 2 and rolls in the cam slot ll, thus oscillating bell cranks 33 which in turn reciprocate the neeare a plurality of vertical radial slots 23 and in each of the slots a knitting needle 29 of conventional type is reciprocably movable. .On the upper portion of the-needle bed an annular member 33 formed with a horizontal flange I33 is addles 23.

As the ball bearings 3 rotate on the extensions 2, the extensions move in and out of the bores 4 at the same time that the balls turn, so that the bores 4 may assume any angle with the vertical necessary to accommodate the angular movement of the levers 38.

In operation the strand is drawn down through the knitting head by means not shown. The shaft 2| rotates the needle cylinder 25, its needles 29, and the member 33 with its levers 38. The cams 39 and 40 remain stationary. Thus the depending ends of the levers 38 are carried around rotating the ball-bearings 3 with them and moved in and out by the cam track 4 l. The

horizontal arm of each lever 33 imtum reciprolevers 38 are actuated by a ball which has a small amount of friction and yet the vertical adjustability of the bell crank levers is not impaired. In the preferred form of the apparatus shown in this embodiment the cam members 39 and d8 are stationary while the needle carrier 25 rotates. However, the invention would be just as applicable to a machine in which the cam rotates and the needle cylinder i stationary.

The embodiment herein disclosed is illustrative only and may be widely modified and departed from without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in and limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for knitting, a plurality of I needles, levers to actuate the needles, cam means to reciprocate the levers, and means interposed between the cam means and the levers to cause the cam to reciprocate the levers comprising a ball rotatable and reciprocable on each lever and rolling on the cam means.

2. In an apparatus for knitting, a plurality of needles, a lever to actuate each needle, and cam means to reciprocate the levers, said cam means having a lever actuating surface with a curved cross-section, a correspondngly curved member reciprocally and rotatably mounted on each lever and 50 held by the cam surface as to rotate freely but not reciprocate with respect to the cam, said ball causing the cam means to actuate the levers.

3. In an apparatus for knitting, a plurality of needles, levers for actuating said needles, and disc-shaped cam means to reciprocate the levers, said cam means comprising two concentric parts forming a cam groove, a cross-section of the groove defining an arc of a circle in each cam part and a ball carried at the end of each lever and operating in said groove, said ball remaining in the same plane in said disc-shaped cam means while moving in said groove.

ROBERT GRANT. 

